Hamas hails growing ties with Britain

Thursday, July 26, 2007 |
by Staff Writer

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh says his terrorist-led government is enjoying strengthened relations with London ever since it helped to secure the release of an abducted British journalist in Gaza earlier this month.

“I cannot deny that there are now other contacts, other channels of communication with the UK and these involve people of high rank,” Haniyeh said in an interview with The Guardian published on Thursday.

Haniyeh said the primary goal of the new high-level contacts is to bolster Hamas' rule of the Gaza Strip. He also asserted that other governments are warming up to the Islamic group.

Earlier this week, Britain's House of Lords issued a report urging the European Union to take a softer approach to Hamas, and insisted that the group's refusal to accept Israel's right to exist was no reason to not have diplomatic ties to the terrorists.

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